This game took me about half an hour to finish and I got the two endings. First of all I really love how the sprites look! I couldn't tell whether or not these were drawn in actual paper or it's just a paper texture placed on a digital drawing but it really makes the game feel more unique and help it stand out, it was the first thing that caught my attention when I opened the game's page. The background art seems simplistic and almost every location have one primary color it's colored entirely after but I think that's more preferable because it's fitting to the story and goes nicely along with the sprites. Also the music is amazing! I'm gonna be honest I was expecting like only one soundtrack to play throughthout the game but the music that was played when the bad ending was triggered caught me off guard and even scared me. Actually a lot of things in the bad ending besides the music got me spooked, and I mean that in a positive way!
Overall this game was very enjoyable, I will write my interpretation of the story down below (I hope it's appropriate to do that here) so spoiler warning:
Spider is the protagonist of this story, and as the game progresses it is made very clear that she was very close with another girl when she was young, but then this girl got missing when she was fourteen years old and was then found a long time later. It is mentioned that Spider's friend frequently ran off whenever they were on an adventure together, and Spider followed after her playfully until one day Spider couldn't find her, which must be when this girl went missing. This reflects the games events where Spider is constantly left behind by her friends Itzy and Bitzy whenever they go on an adventure.
Now here is my conclusion: I think that the almost entirety of the game isn't actually happening physically, but it's more like everything is happening inside Spider's headspace. This is why I praised the background arts earlier, because it does a good job of establishing the unreal atmosphere, some locations even reminded me of backrooms! But most importantly in the good ending, when Spider is seemingly visiting her friend's grave, the background is much more realistic and detailed, which I think indicates that she is now in reality and not in her headspace anymore. That's actually very brilliant! Anyway I got caught up in the background art again, but it seems like Spider is imagining of adventures, similar to ones she had in her reality, in her head where she is subconsciously looking for her lost friend but she is met with her nightmare of being left behind again and again.
Not only that but it seems like as the number of attempts grow larger... so does Spider's age! She obviously looks way older at the end of the game than she does at the start of it, but I think once Spider had changed her fashion style and gotten into a band, that was when she changed from being a teen to late teenager or something like that. Also I think she is wearing her lost friend's cardigan? In the bad ending we see drawing of a character with a cardigan who's face is scribbled, she doesn't look like anyone we ever seen in the game so I assume it is her lost friend. Anyway, the thing I loved the most about Spider aging throughthout the story is that it shows how healing and moving on can take a long time and grief doesn't just go away.
Lastly: Itzy and Bitzy. I really love the fact that they encourged Spider to take improving steps. I have no clue what they could be besides Spider's imaginary friends but honestly Bitzy feels like they got too much depth to simply be imaginary (again, in a positive way). At first I only saw them as fake friends but my opinion changed drastically by the end. I wonder if they are supposed to mirror Spider and her friend somehow?
That's all I have to say. This game was amazing! Also ignore how I spelled Itsy and Bitsy's name wrong the whole comment, I am just realizing that, whoops!
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Oh my gosh im so honoured to have someone go through something i made in length like this. Im so honoured !!! Will start going through things one at a time :D
1) The sprites were drawn digitally, with the paper texture being from the nearest notebook to me - there's 2 variations, one with a torn page and one without !
2) I'm actually super happy you like the bg art !! I was really worried about it not getting the point across because it was rushed (we had a deadline to meet and all) so I'm glad I got the vibe across !! especially that part about the backrooms, i really wanted to make it feel slightly off in the way liminal spaces are, with how empty and devoid they feel.
3) I have no musical background so thats an honour to hear !! There's no official name for the bad ending music but it was frequently described behind the scenes as "music that wants you dead" and "music that kills you" and the file is called heartattackmusic dot wav. so yeah it was very much intentionally made to be startling and im glad it worked
4) Thats very much the intent with Itsy and Bitsy leaving all the time - making her relive things that resemble the event repeatedly so she can fully remember what happened and hopefully get through it.
5) While there is no confirmation where the game takes place (and by that i mean. i didnt think of that), I think the headspace interpretation works really well, especially with the game being based around memories and all. I think the backrooms look can also add to this - liminal spaces kind of feel like places youve been before even if you havent, sometimes like the hazy memories of places you've been in your dreams. So while there's no true answer I think this is a really good interpretation of it!
6) She's not in a band yet, but she wants to be! Her story has pretty much concluded and I don't think it'd be fitting to expand so much on a story about letting go, but I do think she eventually joins one in college.
7) I can confirm she's wearing her friends cardigan - I tried to imply that with the endings, especially the way the cardigan is shaded purple while the rest of her is shaded red, and how purple is the main colour used to identify things attached/related to the girl. The girl in the bad ending is pretty much used to confirm it. It's also why she gives it to Itsy in the good ending - it's an act of letting go and moving on.
8) would you believe me if i said itsy and bitsy are minimum wage workers. I should really get to writing more about those two some time - maybe in a future VN, no guarrantees! I did kind of want them to mirror Spider and her friend, but not like a 1:1 parallel , more just somewhat similar - it's part of why I picked the "cheap nativity play angel costume" look for them (Itsy's halo is supposed to be fuzzy instead of glowy like most halos look like, like a cheap headband one that's made out of gold tinsel or pipe cleaner), it kind of ties them to the choir in a way! The main reason I picked those outfits is mainly just that angels are seen as guides frequently and thats their role in the story, though.(maybe i just have all too vivid memories of christmas growing up and being forced to sit in the freezing parking lot a shopping center with my girl scouts group singing christmas carols ;-;)
anyways im so honoured to have someone go through like this thank you so much :D this made my day